…mostly it's photos of Vankleek Hill.

At last a flower for Debbie

Debbie Hunter died on Thursday, August 25, in a small Eastern Ontario hospital. The official cause of death, I believe, will be complications from tuberculosis. Unofficially it was the years of abuse, schoolyard bullying, living with a handicap as well as a severe form of epilepsy that led to her getting tuberculosis from her 68-year old alcoholic and abusive “boyfriend”.

Tuberculosis. She was 41-years old, and she died from tuberculosis.

Who, the fuck, dies of tuberculosis anymore?

We knew each other in high school, but we were never friends. I watched her get bullied and mocked, and I was never vocal long enough, or loud enough, to stop it.

We ran into each other on a bench on Main Street a few years ago. We talked for a long time about school, about her crafts hobbies. It’s been a few months since I’ve seen her, she’s been incapacitated with leg and ankle disabilities.

Tuberculosis.

At every stage of Debbie’s life she deserved better than what she got. Having her die from tuberculosis at this point is like stabbing a baby puppy after you’ve kicked it around a room a few times.